Diana Farr Louis was born in the Big Apple but has lived in the Big Olive (Athens, Greece) far longer than she ever lived in the US. She was a member of the first Radcliffe class to receive a degree (in English) from Harvard . . . and went to Greece right after graduation, where she lost her heart to the people and the landscape. She spent the next year in Paris, where she learned to eat and cook at Cordon Bleu, and earned her first $15. for writing—a travel piece for The International Herald Tribune. Ever since, travel and food have been among her favorite occupations and preoccupations. She moved to Greece in 1972, found just the right man, and has since contributed to almost every English-language publication in Athens, particularly The Athens News. That ten-year collaboration resulted in two books, Athens and Beyond, 30 Day Trips and Weekends, and Travels in Northern Greece. Wearing her food hat, by no means a toque, she writes for Greek Gourmet Traveler, The Art of Eating and such websites as Elizabeth Boleman-Herring’s www.greecetraveler.com. She is the author of two cookbooks, Prospero’s Kitchen, Mediterranean Cooking of the Ionian Islands from Corfu to Kythera (with June Marinos), and Feasting and Fasting in Crete. Author Photo: Petros Ladas

“The differences came into sharp focus during President Obama’s short visit. We saw banquets and the Acropolis, the impressive interior of the Niarchos Foundation’s glittering new Opera House, and Obama’s magnificent tribute to Greece and the ideals born here 2,500 years ago. But we also witnessed our Prime Minister slouched in a chair, examining his […]

“To accompany this column, I give you three of the joyful images that lifted our spirits this summer. There were dozens more I couldn’t capture, but can conjure up when a smile is required.” —Diana Farr Louis Eating Well Is The Best Revenge By Diana Farr Louis ANDROS Greece—(Weekly Hubris)—October 2016—As opposed to fear, I’d […]

“Petros Ladas is my son. I’ve asked him to guest-write this ‘letter to the future’ since he’s been telling me about all the positive possibilities of our planet’s evolution. It does not have to be negative, and you know how I hate focusing on bad scenarios or worse. And because the story would not gain […]

“For the next 36 hours, until my son arrives with the restored ear trumpet, we will be Trappists; two anchorites without a devotional vocation, one locked in silence yet able to speak, the other in a noisy world whose few words join the blustery wind and scoot out to sea.”—Diana Farr Louis Eating Well Is […]

“There’s nothing a thief would covet, yet all these bits and pieces are precious to us, even the carafe filled with beach glass and the terrace ledges littered with heart stones and anthropomorphic driftwood.” —Diana Farr Louis Eating Well Is The Best Revenge By Diana Farr Louis ANDROS & ATHENS Greece—(Weekly Hubris)—7/4/2016—I’ve been pondering the […]

“I could go on and on, unfolding a tale that would ‘harrow up thy soul . . . and make [thy thin hairs] stand on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine,’ but that would only draw more sadness and horrors to us. So instead, I will tell you about the Greece I saw this […]

“And yet, heartbreaking though Sano Themia Halo’s story, Not Even My Name, could have been, it is not all black or bleak, for she saw much goodness in people and beauty in life.”—Diana Farr Louis Eating Well Is The Best Revenge By Diana Farr Louis ATHENS Greece—(Weekly Hubris)—4/25/2016—How often do you really get to heroes, […]

“Although some friends questioned the wisdom of traveling to Istanbul at a time of such volatility, when bombs seem to go off with disturbing frequency and nowhere is truly safe, I thought how refreshing it was to be able to celebrate something positive for a change.”—Diana Farr Louis Eating Well Is The Best Revenge By […]

“For twelve hours we left the ‘crisis’ behind, and revisited the Greece we used to take for granted.”—Diana Farr Louis Eating Well Is The Best Revenge By Diana Farr Louis ATHENS Greece—(Weekly Hubris)—1/25/2016—After the fireworks and bubbly on the Eve and the special family lunch on the Day, January 2nd can be a slide into […]

“I’ve done lots of the tourist ‘musts’ with exceedingly great pleasure, but each visit reconfirms that the Turks themselves are the pièce de resistance in the Lucullan feast for all the senses that the City represents.” —Diana Farr Louis Eating Well Is The Best Revenge By Diana Farr Louis ATHENS Greece—(Weekly Hubris)—11/23/2015—There are only a […]